How do I protect my content during a site migration?

What is a site migration?

A site migration is the process of bringing the content of your website from one domain to another. There are a variety of reasons that require this type of move. For example, Google has indicated that HTTPS is viewed as a slight ranking signal. Brands that wanted to take advantage of this feature would have to migrate their sites from the HTTP version to the HTTPS one. Other organizations might have a site migration when they rebrand or change their business name.

Why is it important to protect my content during a site migration?

When done correctly, your site migration will allow you make necessary site changes while continuing to build upon the success of your old site. In other words, you do not have to lose the reputation your old site earned, such as the backlinks and engagement reports. By protecting this information and data, you will be able to start your new site with a high-rank, preventing potential drops in traffic and revenue for the business.

How do I protect my content during a site migration?

A site migration is sometimes a necessary process for businesses, but this can be a challenging task. It is important that site owners complete the migration with the utmost caution to ensure that the site does not lose traffic, reputation, or revenue. Following this process will help you make the migration smoothly and successfully.

Before you make any changes, it is important to know the areas of your site that receive the most traffic. Before you begin your migration, use your BrightEdge platform to understand which areas of your site are the most successful. You can then focus your monitoring efforts on these areas to ensure that your site remains strong throughout the process.

At the start of your migration, use 301s to redirect people from the old site to the new site. Make sure that the new pages you redirect traffic towards are optimized for the same keywords as the original pages. Review your information on the BrightEdge recommendations engine to learn what areas of your site need improvement. During a site migration you will be redesigning a website and will be doing work with the code. This makes it the perfect opportunity to make some of these adjustments.

Use the BrightEdge platform to create a migration dashboard, where you can monitor the new site against the old site. This will let you see how well features such as indexed pages, rankings, traffic, and backlinks are transitioning from one site to the new one to ensure that the entire process goes smoothly.

Run a site audit after finishing your transition. Once you officially make the switch to the new site you want to make sure that your site has been properly configured and that your visitors are finding it. A site audit will help you uncover any potential problems so that you can make adjustments before they cause too many problems.